Plain edge or Partially serrated

This is a discussion on Plain edge or Partially serrated within the Defensive Knives & Other Weapons forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; I vote serrated, I haven't done any testing but I imagine it does more damage to a BG....

I have a couple of plain edge knives but most of the many knives I have are combo edge. I use my knives a lot at work in EMS therefore I think the combo edge is a better choice.

You definitely don't need to sharpen the serrations as frequently as a plain edge.

I keep a round tapered diamond knife sharpener for touching up the serrations when needed.

I also like a drop point, spear point or a modified sheeps foot blade design. Also a regular clip point is good as well.

I got away from tanto blades a while back because they just aren't very useful although the Benchmade Rift I'm currently using as a work knife has a "reverse" tanto which has more cutting edge than a standard tanto.

I preffer combo - it has more utility, and I have noticed (hunting) that it does a much better job of cutting through sinew and cartelidge than straight blades.

For a dedicated SD blade why do you need to have a knife that is easy to sharpen? how often are you using it to defend yourself, and how does it keep getting dull?

If you are using it as a utility blade the advantages of a combo are just obvious, yes you can cut the same things with a sharp straight edge, but why? when it is so much easier with a serrated edge?

Obviously knives are primarily tools, but you never know when that tool suddenly has to be used for SD. On top of this, you certainly don't want to be up the creek sans paddle already and then add that you're now using a your butter knife-equivalent EDC beater on your assailant. If you end up laying on top of your primary defensive blade or otherwise can't get to it because some guy is working very hard at pounding the sauce out of your tomato, that is not the time to find out that your tough-to-sharpen EDC blade isn't quite up to snuff or that the serrated section isn't doing anything but moving his jacket or other clothing around across his skin if that's the only place you get the blade on them.

Some people are 99%ers and some people are 1%ers with the same reality across the entire spectrum of life. If you're a 1%er who makes certain to sharpen those serrations every single time you sharpen your knife then kudos to you. If you're like the 99% of the rest of the knife-owning world, you won't and you just might get hosed for it. "Easy to sharpen" all too often translates into "Gets sharpened at all" in the real world so I find it a perfectly viable attribute to look for in a EDC or defensive blade.

If its a general purpose utility knife then sure, partially serrated. Great for cutting stuff.

If it's a dedicated SD knife then the plain edge is better. Great for cutting goblins.

Oh yeah, point. Prefer a normal point to the tanto. Tanto sure looks cool but.. not much else.

I find that serrations are great for multi-fiber materials like rope, sinew as mentioned above, and seatbelts. A well-maintained plain edge can do all of the above just dandy, however, and is around ten times easier to keep sharp. If you have the patience to run your round stick on each of those little crescents in turn, you have my respect, but please don't think less of me for not having the same drive.

Tanto tips are largely useless in my experience. They look cool, penetrate well, but I don't make it a habit to stab sheet metal or other materials where the extra tip toughness would be necessary with either my EDC or defensive blades. A tanto tip is also hard to sharpen correctly so that designed extra penetration might very well be nullified by the porkchopped resharpening job you did the last time you ran the knife over a stone. Not worth the hassle, IMO.

I use a sog trident as my go to knife for utility and everything, at least in one pocket, I used the razor sharp plain part to blow thru the hot water tank box today. The serrations were snagging and the plain edge glided thru like butter. I wasn't sawing so maybe that was why they snagged.